Background

Uriah was born on May 2, 1832 in West Wilton, New Hampshire, United States, the son of Samuel and Rebekah (Spaulding) Smith, and the great-grandson of Uriah Smith, who was in Wilton as early as 1778. Samuel was a highway builder and contractor.

As a youth of twelve, Uriah came into contact with William Miller and his followers, who expected Christ's return to earth on October 22, 1844, and the religious excitement of those days made a profound impression on him. His mother embraced the views taught by the Adventists and continually strove to guide her children into a deep Christian experience. In early boyhood Uriah contracted a sickness resulting in a "fever sore" on his left leg above the knee, which, when he was fourteen, necessitated amputation of the leg.

Education

He studied at the academy at Hancock, New Hampshire (1846 - 47) and at Phillips Academy, Exeter (1848 - 51). Because of financial reverses which his father experienced, he was forced to relinquish his plan for a college education.

Career

In 1853 Uriah entered the office of the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, where his sister Annie had worked. For their services he and his sister received only their board, room, and clothes. In 1855 the paper was again moved, this time to Battle Creek, Michigan, and Smith became editor. With one slight interruption he continued in charge of it until 1898, and his editorial connection was not broken until his death. Under his direction it developed into a healthy church organ representing a growing constituency which numbered at his death over a hundred thousand.

In addition to his editorial work, Smith played an important role in the organization of the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination. He was one of those who advocated the establishment of a General Conference, and upon its organization in 1863 he was made secretary. This important office he also filled on four subsequent occasions, serving twenty years in all. In 1874 he was ordained to the ministry and labored much in camp meetings and conferences from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Upon the establishment of Battle Creek College that same year he became lecturer on the Bible there.

In 1877 he established a Biblical Institute at Oakland, California, for the training of young ministers. As a General Conference official and editor of the church organ, he had a prominent part in the founding of the well-known Battle Creek Sanitarium.

Although his days were filled with various duties, he found time between nine in the evenings and midnight to write books. His widely read work - The Marvel of Nations (1887), a history of the United States as an Adventist phenomenon. Some of his poems appear along with his sister's in the volume published by their mother, Poems: With a Sketch of the Life and Experiences of Annie R. Smith (1871).

By trade Smith was a wood engraver. He made some practical inventions. Since his cork leg caused him considerable difficulty in kneeling in prayer, he constructed an improved wooden leg with movable foot. For this he received a patent (No. 39, 361), July 28, 1863, and with the income he derived from the invention he bought a house. Later he invented a school desk with folding seat.

In 1894, in the interests of his paper he visited Europe and the Near East. While in Syria he contracted a fever from the effects of which he never fully recovered. He died at Battle Creek.

Achievements

• Uriah Smith is best known as the longest serving editor of the Review and Herald (now the Adventist Review) for over 50 years. His main contribution to Adventist theology was a commentary on the prophetic Biblical books of Daniel and the Revelation, but he also wrote extensively on conditional immortality and other topics. He also developed and patented an artificial leg with a moveable ankle.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Daniel and the Revelation;

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Modern Spiritualism. a Subject of Prophecy and a Sign of the Times

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Poems: With A Sketch Of The Life And Experience Of Annie R. Smith

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Thoughts, Critical and Practical, on the Book of Revelation

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Views

He advocated religious liberty, the abolition of slavery, and noncombatancy for Adventists.

Personality

He had a mechanical turn of mind.

Connections

On June 7, 1857, he married Harriet Newell Stevens, an assistant in his office. He had five children.

Father:

Samuel Smith

Mother:

Rebekah (Spaulding) Smith

Spouse:

Harriet Newell Stevens

Sister:

Annie R. Smith

Great-grandfather:

Uriah Smith

influencer:

William Miller